Three apartment developments, two of them in the city centre and one in Cabinteely, are to be sold in single lots at substantial discouts. JACK FAGANreports.

Living beside Guinness

TEN APARTMENTS in a new block developed by the suspended solicitor Ruairi Ó Ceallaigh at the rear of the Guinness Brewery in Dublin are to be offered for sale on the instructions of receiver Paul McCann of Grant Thornton.

Andrew Long of The Lansdowne Partnership is seeking €1 million for the five-storey building on the little known Pim Street located between Thomas Street and Cork Street.

Two years ago, the High Court ordered the winding up of highly respected family law firm, Sean Ó Ceallaigh Co, Phibsboro, Dublin, and suspended the practising certificate of Ruairi Ó Ceallaigh – one of the partners – after he admitted gambling almost €2.4 million, half of which had been left to the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, in a man’s will.

Ó Ceallaigh’s involvement in the property development market will come as a surprise to many. Nine of the 10 apartments are currently let at a rent of €9,270 per month, while the remaining unit is being kept vacant to facilitate interested parties during the sales campaign.

The overall rent roll from the development in a full year, providing it is fully let, will be €111,240, according to the selling agents. There are six two-bedroom apartments in the block, two live-work units with one-bedroom each and two three-bedroom apartments.

Unusually for a small residential scheme, the Pim Street development comes with a lift and what is described as a “magnificent” roof garden. Individual apartments have balconies to the rear.

Abbey Glen has appeal for investors

A HIGH-END apartment development at Cabinteely in Dublin 18, is to be sold in a single lot after being put into receivership.

David Browne of agents HT Meagher O’Reilly is seeking in the region of €5.5 million for 44 apartments and penthouses in the three-year-old Abbey Glen scheme which is expected to appeal to investors and a small group of developers who were careful enough not to have reinvested their profits in over-priced sites. The sale has been triggered by Tom O’Brien of Mazars who was appointed receiver by AIB.

The apartments were built in two attractive blocks at the entrance to St Gabriel’s development, a vibrant middle-class neighbourhood about 400 yards from Cabinteely village. A pedestrian access on to Johnstown Avenue leads directly to the village centre.

Many of the apartments on the upper floors look directly over a public park. The overall scheme has been greatly enhanced by the large floor areas, the high-spec fit-out and the generous planting in the surrounding gardens.

A total of 35 of the available apartments have been rented and are producing an income of €419,000.

A further nine units including four duplex penthouses have yet to be fitted out. The estimated cost of finishing off these apartments and furnishing them comes to €285,000. The selling agents say that once this has been done and the units have been leased, the overall rent roll should rise to about €585,000 – a figure that will show a net return of 8.8 per cent. One-beds are currently renting at an average of €893, two-beds are making €1,100, while three-beds are fetching €1,200. The annual cost of operating the two blocks is expected to be about €75,000.

The €5.5 million guide price equates to a valuation of about €105,000 for one-bedroom apartments (there are 13 of them); €135,000 for two-bedroom units (22); €160,000 for three-bedroom homes (5) and €185,000 for two-bedroom duplex penthouses (4).

Browne estimates that these valuations are between 20 and 25 per cent lower than the sale price of similar apartments sold on an individual basis.

€12.5 million for docklands blocks

THE CONTINUING demand for rental apartments in the Dublin docklands should help agents Hooke MacDonald to find a buyer for two substantial blocks of apartments going for sale today off Castleforbes Road, close to the 02 concert venue, on the northern side of the Liffey.

Enda Moore of the selling agents is guiding €12.5 million for the 81 apartments which were completed three years ago with funding from the former Anglo Irish Bank.

The residential units form part of the Liffey Trust Building, an eight-storey over basement mixed use development beside the new Gibson Hotel. The ground and first floors are in retail and commercial use with much of the space accommodating the Liffey Trust Enterprise Centre along with a performing arts school and The Green Room bar and restaurant.

There are a total of 96 apartments in all on the upper six floors which are set around a landscaped podium garden. The apartments are accessed off open walkways.

The €12.5 million guide price equates to about €154,000 for two-bedroom units without taking into account 68 car spaces in the basement. The 81 apartments to be sold as a bulk investment includes nine “affordable” units which Dublin Docklands Development Authority – or Dublin City Council – has the right to purchase at a preferential price. If the public authority opts to acquire this portfolio, they are likely to settle on a price of about €120,000 for each of the apartments. Equally, they may decide against buying the homes at a time when they may be difficult to sell on because of the tight conditions now applying to most mortgages.

Of the 81 apartments going for sale, 74 are two-bedroom units, six have one bedroom while three are three-bedroom duplex homes.

The selling agents describe the scheme as a “high specification development” and say that all the apartments have been furnished to a high standard. A total of 64 currently let are bringing in a rent roll of €85,630 per month. Two-bed apartments and duplex units are renting at between €1,200 and €1,500 per month, while one-beds are making €1,000. Some units are let to Facebook employees.